Ainsley Innis
__TOC__ Statistics Full name: Ainsley Madeira Innis Age: 30 Date of birth: 4 January 1975 Blood: Muggle-born Wand: 11", Birch, Centaur Tail Hair, Supple Alumni: Hufflepuff Affiliation: Ministry: MLE: Vice. She is the head of the division. Home Life Mother: Reia Kelsea Innis (nee Argdall) - Muggle. Deceased. Killed at 47 years old in 2000 by Death Eaters. Father: Iain Murray Innis - Muggle. Deceased. Killed at 49 years old in 2000 by Death Eaters. Siblings: Cael Innis (28) - Muggle linguist working in Tokyo currently. Husband: Evan Fagan - Half-blood wizard. Deceased at age 23. Other family: Ainsley has cousins as well as their children but she hasn't kept in contact with them much, never having been particularly close to anyone outside of her immediate family. Relationships with each: Cael: Ainsley and her brother get along very well but they aren't particularly close. He was nine when she left for Hogwarts and so they grew up largely without one another around. It isn't a point of sadness for either of them and they have no regrets, it's simply the way things went. They keep in touch, calling or emailing at least once a month to keep up to date on one another's lives. He is currently engaged to a woman he met in Japan. Reia and Iain: Before their deaths Ainsley was on good terms with her parents. She liked them well enough, loved them of course, and was very loyal to her family but she has never been particularly close to her family and because of that hasn't ever understood people who could never move away from their family. She would see them for holidays, call them every once in a while, but she was never one to keep in touch with them a lot and often they'd have to put forth the effort to talk to or see her as she wouldn't. It wasn't that she was opposed to seeing or speaking with her parents, it just didn't occur to her most days. Home: A decently sized one bedroom flat in the Shambles, though she still keeps her flat in Edinburgh Evan's parents had given them as a wedding gift as well. Finances: Middle class. She lives comfortably and wants for little, but she also does not have very extravagant taste either. Personal Life Personality: Ainsley is blunt. She is straight forward. She doesn't like people beating about the bush or sugar coating things as she sees it as a waste of everyone's time and it really annoys her when you waste her time. Never ask for her opinion unless you really want it. She will tell you exactly what she thinks or she will say nothing at all, there is not any in between with her. You know exactly how she feels about you at all times and if you don't know just say hi to her. The only time she bothers with half truths, lies, sugar coating or pussy footing is when she is working a case and is either undercover or investigating. She finds a leader who pulls punches and cushions the blow to be ineffectual and refuses to become such. She is also demanding. You either get the job done or you don't but you don't make excuses to her and she has little time, patience or tolerance for people who can't get the job done. These people are put in the same category as wasting her time, only worse because they've also wasted the time, money and resources of the Ministry at large. Despite her demanding, blunt nature, Ainsley's quick with a smile. She likes people, loves talking to them and will chat people up relentlessly and unabashedly while on the job or in writing. She blames years of having to talk information out of people for this. The shyness she once held as a child is still there, however. Ainsley has learned to push her impulse toward shyness away when at work, but when on her own time she won't initiate conversation with people she doesn't know. Once someone speaks to her, however, she is completely comfortable in conversation. Respect is a big thing for Ainsley. If you show her respect then she will show you respect. If you don't show her respect you will never earn hers. You will address her properly and you will keep your eyes, your hands and the rest of your person where it belongs. You do not grope Ainsley uninvited, especially if you're male and wish to keep your hands (though she only irreparably damaged the one bloke's hands and that was both a Death Eater and during the war). Ainsley does not back down from a fight. Now, she may not win the fight, but that isn't the point always. The point is being willing to stand up for yourself, to stand your ground and not swallow your words because someone's bigger than you. She has a few scars from the worst of the fights she's gotten into, most of which happened undercover, and isn't afraid of earning more. She has little respect for people who talk big but aren't willing to step up when challenged over those words. This doesn't necessarily mean a physical altercation, but a coward pretending to be otherwise earns no respect. (She has no problem with cowards who admit to being such.) Marital status: Widow Sexual Orientation: Homosexual (non-practicing bisexual) Strengths: Straight forward, blunt, aggressive, good listener, fighter (in all respects), thorough, very good at breaking wards/curses, excellent with glamours, lying, acting, sharp mind, extraordinarily loyal to those who have earned her loyalty, strong (emotionally), steadfast, unwavering, true to her word, finishes what she starts, organisational junkie, understanding to an extent, thinks of the greater good Weaknesses: Unforgiving, intolerant & impatient with poor performances, does not accept excuses easily, stubborn, can sometimes overlook faults of those she's loyal to, highly critical, demanding, blunt, aggressive, won't ever cushion the blow, she can overlook individual impact and focus on the big picture too much at times, totally willing to be shady to get a piece of evidence or information necessary for a case, hard to impress Boggart: A giant millipede Patronus: Spotted Saddle horse (Horses symbolise the Land, Power, Freedom, Strength, Movement, Grace, Dignity, Stamina, Endurance, Faithfulness, Journey, Swiftness, Friends, and Loyalty.) Mirror of Erised: Evan alive and with Ainsley, both clearly happy and smiling, her sitting in his lap with her legs kicking like she did when they were in school together. Amortentia Potion: Salt water, the smell of rained on grass, and there is a very light scent of Evan's skin. Miscellaneous: • Trained kick boxer. • Trained on small firearms due to an undercover operation. • Strong swimmer. • Loves to fly. • Learned to break wards and curses from a Curse Breaker she worked with on a case. • Hates insects, gets all twitchy with them in sight. • Has been known to transfigure the chairs in her office into a bed so she doesn't have to bother apparating home. • Expert knife fighter. • Very good magical combatant. • Organises her closet according to article of clothing, then colour, then length. • Books, DVDs, Music, etc. are all organised alphabetically by author, title and musician (respectively), then chronologically, then alphabetically • Her office is impeccably organised so she can find things without having to think about it. • Creature of habit, she wakes up at the same time every day and has the same routine every morning and evening. There are certain things she does on the same day of the week every week and rarely deviates. When she does it's usually because of work. • When she feels stressed, overwhelmed or when she simply misses him she will wear her wedding band. Sometimes this happens for up to a month at a time as Ainsley finds the feel of it comforting and calming. • She doesn't consider herself black or hispanic, though she has both in her background, simply Scottish. • Has a ridiculous amount of Scottish pride and will defend Scotland to her last breath. • Has a magical tattoo of a goat on her right arm. It’s magical so it tends to wander around, but it mostly sticks to her arm, shoulder, back and nape. • Wears a black, pinstripe trilby hat most of the time, though she tends to take it off and play with it when at her desk for long stretches of time. Aesthetics Appearance: Ainsley keeps in excellent physical condition. This shows down to her complexion which has a very healthy glow about it. Her body is well toned but not overtly muscled. She has a milky mocha skin tone from her mixed race, kind of short hair and bright eyes. Her eyes are incredibly warm and rather expressive, her smile or frown manifesting easily in them. She has an easy smile about her and already has fine lines beginning around her eyes from smiling. Ainsley, however, is an excellent liar facially and her expression should not be assumed as truth, her lies even reaching her eyes. Her gait is relaxed and casual. Rarely does she slouch or have especially poor posture. When she is not in motion (walking, running, standing up, sitting down, writing, etc.) Ainsley is very still. Whether she is sitting, laying, standing or hanging upside down she has a calmness and stillness about her that has led people to wonder if she perhaps sleeps with her eyes open. More than once she's been checked for breathing and a heartbeat when she's simply been sitting still. Make-up isn't really an interest of Ainsley's. She wears very little of it and always very natural tones when she does so you can't tell she's wearing it at all. Mostly she enjoys mascara because it makes her eyes stand out. Her hair is naturally wavy to slightly curly but she gets bored with her appearance and takes it out on her hair the most. It's not uncommon for her to use a straightening potion that lasts anywhere from a day to several weeks (because straight hair is lower maintenance) or for her to charm her hair longer or shorter. Typically her hair is worn no longer than the nape of her neck, though she also gets lazy and it can creep several inches below her shoulders before she cuts it off again. Height: 5' 7" (1.70 m) Weight: 120lbs Hair: Dark Brown, hovering around her shoulders, wavy-curly naturally but also gets straightened a lot Eyes: Brown Style of dress: Varied. Ainsley will wear a dress one day, jeans and a tee shirt the next, robes the following and a tank under a corset over jeans on the last. There is something distinctly feminine about everything she wears though there is at least a hint of a tomboy quality as well. She prefers jewel tones and earth tones. Anything pastel or overly bright makes her cringe. Robes she generally only wears if she has to, feeling more at home in the muggle attire she grew up in. History Ainsley Madeira Innis is the eldest child of Reia and Iain Innis, a nurse and a postman, from Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands. The couple was overjoyed to welcome their daughter and first child into their fledgling family. The family was comfortably middle class and even when they welcomed their son, Cael, into the family they were comfortable enough to not have to scrape by in the least, except perhaps around Christmas time as Reia had a habit of wanting to spoil her children rotten on that day. Ainsley was a charming child, causing many adult hearts to be stolen by her precocious words and round eyes. She was always very honest and spoke about things as she saw them, something most adults seemed to rarely expect despite the fact most other children seemed to be much the same way as far as she could tell. Ainsley simply never grew out of it. She was, however, rather shy with children her own age while growing up and so while adults found her charming she rarely had friends her own age. She mostly kept to herself, preferring to keep to her day dreams and toys in her room rather than playing with others. As a result when occasional wild magic would cause things to happen, like for her toy horse to gallop across the room on its own, she didn't entirely realise what was going on. Ainsley always chalked it up to an over active imagination. As she got older Ainsley started to make friends, though these friendships tended to be initiated by the other child as Ainsley was still shy with speaking to anyone she did not know. By time she was ten she had a small group of friends and had come out of her shell a little. That is, until she got a letter dropped off by an owl claiming she was a witch. She'd assumed it was some prank from her parents or her brother or maybe a friend, but later that night one of the teachers of the Hogwarts school showed up at her house wearing really strange clothing. The woman was cheerful and a bit soft all over and Ainsley decided she liked her rather a lot. She spent the whole time interjecting questions, bouncing in her dad's lap excitedly. This was way better than anything she could think up because this was real. Or so the Ms. Sprout lady said so. After some consideration, and a lot of obnoxiously enthusiastic prodding on Ainsley's part, her parents decided it was for the best for her to go to the school. Wild magic, which the woman from the school had mentioned, they found worrying and ultimately Ainsley being able to control magic seemed a better option even if everything was entirely foreign to them. In August the family was taken to Diagon Alley so Ainsley's school supplies could be purchased and the girl was officially in love. It really, truly existed, all of it. She was utterly gob smacked. Given that Ainsley came from the Orkney Islands, she did not take the Hogwarts Express to the school on the first of September in 1986. Instead her parents dropped her off nearby and a very, very large gentleman by the name of Hagrid picked her up, taking her the rest of the way to the school. The Sorting Hat placed Ainsley in Hufflepuff House, something she was rather glad of when she came to realise Professor Sprout was her Head of House since she already liked the cheerful woman. Making friends seemed to come more easily for Ainsley in a house that had people who seemed to be innately friendly. It was strange to the girl to have so many friends so easily. In her third year she became the seeker on her house's Quidditch team, causing them to come in second place for the Quidditch cup behind Slytherin. Thanks to Ainsley's speed and perception Hufflepuff came in second most years, only coming in third during her fifth year. Evan Fagan was a Gryffindor in Ainsley's year. She didn't know him very well due mostly to her own shyness that persisted with those outside of Hufflepuff but in the beginning of their fifth year he seemed to have decided that Ainsley had to be his girlfriend and that no other girl would do. The two became a couple soon after and were quickly inseparable. By their sixth year they settled into something a bit less frantic and more comfortable which allowed them to focus on their studies more often and stealing away for a snog session less often after the slight dip in both of their marks the previous year. The week their NEWTs scores came back Ainsley and Evan both received word they'd been accepted into the Auror training program. The next day Evan proposed and Ainsley accepted. They remained engaged for one year, after which they married. This only seemed to focus them both on their training even more despite their happiness. Evan had been the only boy she'd ever fancied, ever snogged, ever shagged, and she liked it that way. Auror training was completed in June of 1996. As to keep personal and professional separate Evan remained in the London branch while Ainsley went north to the branch located in Edinburgh. Two years later war broke out and Evan was killed in a battle with Death Eaters during the first year of the war. Ainsley was devastated. She swore to never be with another man so long as she lived, viewing such a thing as a disrespect and dishonour to her husband. At the time she thought it was a vow of celibacy she'd taken on. It wouldn't be until she was heavily pursued romantically by a woman two years later that she would put the pieces together to discover her attraction to women was more than platonic, something which had simply never occurred to her previously as she'd always been quite happily involved with Evan. At the age of twenty-five she chose to self-identify as homosexual, finding it was simpler than explaining why she refused to be involved with a man. As an Auror, Ainsley was sometimes sent into battles whenever the war came far enough north. She didn't outright sign up for the war effort, rightfully blaming the war for her husband's death, but she fought in it often enough to have her combat skills thoroughly tested and improved. The years of war wore on her, despite spending the majority of her time doing her job as an Auror mostly protecting Hogwarts or dealing with Azkaban and largely trying to keep Death Eaters out of Scotland to protect the wizarding children. Two years after her husband died her parents were killed by Death Eaters when they had been on their way back to Kirkwall after visiting Ainsley in Edinburgh. At that point she'd insisted her brother find employment outside of Britain and outside of any country in which the war was being waged. He didn't quite understand but he went, finding himself in Osaka, Japan as an interpreter and translator. With the end of the war came a combining of the Aurors and the MLE. It had happened sooner in the other branches but Scotland had decided restructuring was last on their list of priorities. This was something Ainsley opposed and still thinks is a rather daft move on the Ministry's part. People worked hard to become Aurors. They worked their arses off for three years in training to be distinguished and elite, and now suddenly a person who had maybe done a year of training, if that, and was a Hit Wizard for years was now worthy of the title of Auror just because the public looked more highly upon Aurors? (There was a reason, after all, they were looked more highly upon, they were trained and worked for that distinction.) It was, in many ways, like spitting on actual Aurors and telling them that just any ole inept witch or wizard could do their job. She found it insulting at best. The Scotland office looked to its remaining Aurors to head the departments it now had to recreate for their combined MLE. Ainsley applied for the position as the head of the Vice division, that being the closest to what the actual Aurors had been doing all along. Ainsley formed the division with a strict no tolerance policy for poor performance. She didn't like that Hit Wizards were now doing things that only trained Aurors had previously been trusted to do, however she was impartial. If you could do the job she was happy, if you stuffed it up you were reprimanded. There were a number of Aurors and Hit Wizards alike she removed from the division for ineptitude, some being fired outright. Her supervisor then contacted her in December of 2004 with news that the head of Vice in London was retiring and she'd been offered the position. She had a long discussion with him about it and took a week to consider the proposal. At the end of the week she gave word to the London offices that she would take the position but not until the end of February. She wanted time to get someone up to speed to replace her. Ainsley would not leave her people in unprepared hands. A replacement was hand picked by Ainsley without anyone knowing she was even going to be leaving. Thomas McCullough had gone through training a year before Ainsley. He'd worked cases with her and he had the best track record of anyone in the division, and admittedly anyone in the MLE period. Once he was up to speed, trained for leadership, comfortable in the role and ready to take it over entirely Ainsley said goodbye to Edinburgh and moved down to London, slightly worried that the rumours she'd heard about the disorganisation that their MLE was in were true. Current Activities Ainsley has just transferred from the Scotland office to the London office and is adjusting to life in London. She's also planning to completely restructure the MLE's training because she finds it lacks efficiency. Meta Player: Cozza PB: Rosario Dawson Category: Characters Category: Played Characters Category: Department of Magical Law Enforcement Category: Aurors